By reading both “Alabama Clergymen’s Letter to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr” and “Letter from Birmingham City Jail- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr” the reader becomes aware of how passionate and rightfully life changing Martin Luther King Jr’s movements were. The first letter, sent to King by an Alabama clergymen, is an perfect representation of the painfully common defiance white leaders had towards the oppressed blacks. The clergymen also drops the classic “wait”, saying that if King stops his demonstrations, “equality” and “peace” will eventually ease into the white leaders minds. The second letter is written by King to the clergymen, addressing in the most calm way possible just how wrong he is, and how these demonstrations need to cause tension.
In Dr. King’s letter, he is responding to the outside world by calling him and the individuals involved, unwise. Dr. King argues that for justice, they had no other choice but to do this. The three themes I noticed in this letter was; injustice, religion, and nonviolent actions. As we all know, Dr. King was all about nonviolent acts of protesting. In his letter, he writes, “Several months ago the affiliate here in Birmingham asked us to be on call to engage in a nonviolent direct-action program if such were deemed necessary” (King).
Martin Luther King, Jr. attempts to persuade clergymen to follow in his civil rights movement through exhibiting his knowledge over just and unjust laws, displaying peaceful behavior, and empathetic diction. King was very knowledgeable about laws and his right as a human. King stated laws in his letter to the clergymen, which displayed his credibility. He did not only state laws, he also stated just and unjust laws. King stated, “How can you advocate breaking some laws and obeying others?”
Martin Luther King Jr. makes in his Letter From Birmingham Jail is that many of the people around in that time actually had a big say in his perspective. He mentions, “Let me take note of my other major disappointment, I have been so greatly disappointed with the white church and its leadership. Of course, there are some notable exceptions. I am not unmindful of the fact that each of you has taken some significant stands on this issue. I commend you, Reverend Stallings, for your Christian stand on this past Sunday, in welcoming Negroes to your worship service on a nonsegregated basis.
Martin Luther King, Jr. was a great example, he fought for his country to gain this freedom even though he went to jail and went against the law trying to accomplish his goal. As the author states in his letter “ We will reach the goal of freedom in Birmingham, even if our motives are at present because the goal of America is freedom”)(Luther King 240). Following Martin Luther King words we have the mission to accomplish this if we work together. At that time that Luther king wrote this letter the major problem was in Birmingham.
The reason for open letters are so, that the author can get his/her point across in a time of need, on behalf of justice, or on behalf of others. In Dr.King’s open letter “The letter from Birmingham jail” is a mixture of both commentary genre and rebuttal microgenre as he commentates his opinions on the injustices that the blacks of the south face with the white supremacists, throughout the open letter Dr.King argues why the act of nonviolence is the best way to solve segregation in the south. The discomfort of being in jail for acting against racism gives Dr.King the motivation for writing this open letter, in the open letter, King expresses the discomfort of having that the racial justice of his people have been too long denied by stating
Martin Luther King Jr. was arrested and sent to jail on April 12th, 1963 because he and others were protesting the treatment of African Americans in Birmingham, Alabama. The court had ordered that King could not hold any protests in Birmingham. He was held for twenty-four hours without the right to contact a lawyer. When he was finally allowed contact with the outside world, he stumbled across a letter that was published in a newspaper. The letter criticized the protests and labeled them unwise.
It was the letter from Birmingham jail that Martin Luther King, Jr wrote that explain how these certain event that he acted upon were contradictory to what the constitution has to say. Martin Luther King Jr wanted rights for his people for African Americans to have the right to vote. For their rights picking who would best shape America. After section four was strike down the dissenting group of supreme justices had powerful opinions on the different racism happening on multiple states creating racial formation in which Martin Luther King Jr had acted upon. In which indicated that many African Americans did not have the right to vote do to the hierarchy in certain states.
The purpose of Martin Luther King's letter is to justify the reasoning for why the people of Birmingham (including him) were protesting. When the local clergymen (who were most likely white men) said that Martin Luther King was an outside agitator, it could paint a picture that the people protesting were "unruly" or destructive. So this letter clears up the misunderstanding that the people of Birmingham are unreasonable and destructive to those who would quickly feed onto the negative narrative that black people already have. Martin Luther King highlights the fact that Birmingham has been one of the most segregated cities in the United States and the black homes and churches of Birmingham being a target of bombing. He believed that this was
Martin Luther King Jr. was a civil rights activist who believed in peaceful protest. However, Martin Luther King Jr. was arrested and sent to jail in 1963 when he, along with many people, were protesting the awful treatment of African Americans / blacks in Birmingham, Alabama. While he was in jail, he wrote a letter and sent the letter to the audience regarding how black people couldn’t get justice from the white southerners. His eloquently written letter pertains to his beliefs and his thoughts, so it became a piece of text/ literature that substitutes his lack of presence while he was in jail.
In 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. led a peaceful movement in Birmingham, Alabama. The purpose of the demonstration was to bring awareness and end to racial disparity in Birmingham. Later that night, King and his followers were detained by city authorities. While in custody, King wrote the famous “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” This letter voiced out his disappointment in the criticisms, and oppositions that the general public and clergy peers obtained.
In his ‘Letter From Birmingham City Jail,’ Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. stated that “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”(King 64). Though his specific fight during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 60s served as dismantling segregation laws in which separated white and black Americans—particularly in the Southern states of the United States—King preached and sought to obtain human rights for all individuals of all colors and sizes; this is seen through his affiliations with multiple organizations which include The Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights. King’s findings and ideologies serve in correlation with the establishment of the United Nations and its Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948: “Whereas Recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all member of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice, and peace in the world” (Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948). King’s activism and commitment to people served a contributing factor in the creation and continued presence of organizations such as the United Nations, and their subsidies, which strive to enhance the development of countries throughout the globe—in particular south nations—ensuring that all beings of this earth are ensured their human rights.
Dr. King later in the document expresses disappointment in the white moderates and the church for their roundabout methods
In his letter he is mainly reaching out to the entire country to try and get them to put a stop to racial injustice. The way that he addressed and refuted the clergymen's letter is one of the things that made this letter most effective. Another thing that made this letter so effective, is the way that he used the appeal to emotion, or pathos, to pull the readers in and make them think about if it were them that were being discriminated against. Martin Luther King Jr. is very successful in explaining how injustice anywhere is a threat to justice
Lynx – Dumb Animals (1983), personally, got my attention, because with a powerful message on its slogan, shames whoever wears furs for confectionary ends; the message was ‘’It takes up to 40 dumb animals to make a fur coat, but only one to wear it.’’ What is very interesting about this ad is that it is not particularly targeting women that wear furs; it is targeting other people to put pressure on those who wear them. Moreover, the ad uses a very controversial image of a woman dragging a coat leaving traces of blood behind; which was used to draw attention to the suffering of the animals. Benetton – Unhate (2011) , was also a controversial and successful campaign from Fabrica and 72andSunny, that featured world leaders such as: Obama, the
